


Coalescent

by bookaddict43



Category: Firefly
Genre: Drabble, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-10
Updated: 2009-07-10
Packaged: 2017-10-02 10:32:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookaddict43/pseuds/bookaddict43
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>River was a princess once</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coalescent

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for Challenge #5 at 2by2fics at Live Journal. Prompts: Bland, Gabriel and Regan Tam

River was a princess once - long ago and far away.

Miss River Tam, genius and dancer, bland and dutiful daughter of Gabriel and Regan, loving sister and brother’s joy. She was loved and cared for, pampered and preened; a showcase of her parents’ achievements. All was happy, carefree, serene… and about as true as the fairytales of old.

The fairytale fractured and she of long ago has vanished and River of now is a phantom drifting through the lives of others; incorporeal, insubstantial, incomprehensible. She is there, but not there; visible only as a ghost of her former self. Even now, saner than she was and with purpose and pride; she is not whole, not the girl she was. She is in parts.

She is River the pilot, the assassin, the friend and sister; girl and weapon, mind reader and foe, trusted and feared, sometimes lucid, sometimes not. If her parts would blend, she would have substance and be no longer adrift, but at times the insanity still leeches through her… her parts do not coalesce.

It is on these uncertain days when confusion consumes her that Simon grasps at that distant fairytale and tries to resurrect it with shots and potions. And River runs. She flees, her steps helter skelter, her purpose gone – the fairytale must not come back.

Her flight is halted by strong arms and solid body. He has learnt from his mistakes and anchors arms and feet, they can not hit or incapacitate. She is caught, but safe. Jayne sees her as whole, a sum of her parts, craziness is a character flaw; he argues for no chemical stimulation, the drugs make her worse. She is foe still to him, dangerous and untrustworthy but he desires her also. River Tam, ship’s pilot; pretty, sexy and smart mouthed. It amuses her the uses, both carnal and non that he intends for her smart mouth. But she is intrigued too and pushes back against him teasingly.

There is heat now; she is merging with herself and with him. But the argument is won; his arms are gone and she is lost, insubstantial again. Till blue eyes meet brown and there is promise and River knows that the time will come and her parts will meld with his. She will be anchored, visible, and intelligible; they will be coalescent and she will be whole.


End file.
